What is depression?

In order to relieve yourself of your depression you must first find out whether you really are truly suffering with depression or whether you are simply just feeling down, as there is a significant difference. Problems at work or at home or sometimes both can be extremely difficult to cope with and can leave you feeling vulnerable and sad. This does not necessarily mean that you are depressed.

Depression usually begins when over a period time problems in your life continue to mount up, each additional problem causing you that extra bit of stress and worry like a crescendo over a gradual length of time. Depression is the point where all of these stresses and strains on your mind become overwhelmingly difficult to cope with and become unbearable. When this happens you feel like you don't have the motivation or energy to make the effort any more. This then leads you into the 'automatic negative thought' aspect of depression whereby you will most likely find your interior dialogue thinking negative thoughts seemingly of its own accord. Eventually, this leads you to feeling paranoid and anxious about any new problems that may arise and can make you feel suicidal.params.getadspec('c_billboard1');

Diagnosis

If you are genuinely suffering with depression you will probably suffer with a lot of automatic negative thoughts which you will find yourself becoming more aware of. This may then lead you into believing that you are thinking too much or that your mind is on overdrive. You then become worried about why your mind is being so active which in turn leads you back to being paranoid and you then find yourself in a downward circular spiral of awkward thinking traps which ultimately lead to more depression, anxiety and paranoia.

At the point that depression kicks in some people report a sensation at the front of their head which feels like it has become indented or caved in. Others report a sense of feeling lost and not knowing who they are any more or where they are going in life. Some people feel worthless and have no self-esteem left due to recurring bad experience. Most people suffering with depression will feel paranoid and uneasy in certain social situations, particularly where there are a lot of people. They may feel that everyone is looking at them or plotting something behind their back.

Bi-polar disorder is what used to be known as manic or chronic depression but has become better understood recently. Sufferers of bi-polar disorder often find themselves feeling content with their life for several weeks then suddenly become overenthusiastic and overly excitable. This may then be followed by several weeks of feeling manically depressed. The order of the symptoms are usually completely random.

Techniques For Relieving Depression

Whilst some of these techniques may seem a little basic and straight forward they have been proven to work and I advise that even if you feel that nothing is happening, you should try the techniques every day for two weeks.

To deal with your automatic negative thoughts you first need to be aware of when they are occurring. Each time your mind throws a negative suggestion at you don't start believing that you are thinking too much. You are not, you are just more aware of it so don't worry. It's also a good idea to respond to the suggestion opposingly. For example, if you find yourself thinking 'i hate life' simply respond to yourself and say 'i'll ignore that, it's just an automatic negative thought, I won't let it bother me'

This technique may seem a little daft at first but after a while you will notice a significant difference in the way your interior dialogue works.

Another extremely useful technique which can really help you get a perspective on things is to spend an hour or so on your own and take a look at the bigger picture. Sit or lie down comfortably and relax and look at your own life and everything in it from a third person perspective. Watch your life as though you are watching it on tv and you can see yourself there too performing all your every day routines. Look at it over a long period of time and I can guarantee that you will notice things that you had never thought about before which will begin to make you feel very different.

If there are any specific memories of events that have occurred in your life or in your past which tend to bother you regularly and make you feel depressed and that you strongly react emotionally to, you can alter the way that you represent the experience to yourself. Since we represent everything to ourselves in metaphorical representations this is an easy technique. Imagine the event taking place on a large television screen in your mind but view it from a third person perspective. Now watch the event happening as though you are watching a movie of it on television and play it over a couple of times. Next, make the color slowly drain away until it becomes black and white and then slowly gets darker. As you are doing this zoom out on the screen and see it becoming smaller and smaller in your imagination until it is just a tiny dot. Do this about five times a day for a week or two and you should find a different emotional reaction to the event when the memory is triggered.